BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) Short Interest Update

BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 142,100 shares, an increase of 19.5% from the January 15th total of 118,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 52,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BCBP shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of BCB Bancorp from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on BCB Bancorp from $15.00 to $13.75 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BCB Bancorp news, COO Ryan Blake sold 8,677 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.06, for a total value of $113,321.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 39,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $514,067.72. This trade represents a 18.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 15.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCB Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BCBP. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of BCB Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $1,450,000. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BCB Bancorp by 35.8% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 321,096 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,802,000 after acquiring an additional 84,617 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in BCB Bancorp by 345.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 59,707 shares of the bank’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 46,302 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in BCB Bancorp by 131.0% in the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 66,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $790,000 after buying an additional 37,820 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of BCB Bancorp by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 974,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,543,000 after purchasing an additional 21,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 36.00% of the company’s stock.

BCB Bancorp Stock Performance

BCBP opened at $10.34 on Monday. BCB Bancorp has a 1-year low of $9.19 and a 1-year high of $14.04. The company has a market cap of $176.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $11.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

BCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCBP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.13). BCB Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.33% and a net margin of 9.46%. On average, analysts expect that BCB Bancorp will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCB Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.19%. BCB Bancorp’s payout ratio is 65.31%.

About BCB Bancorp

BCB Bancorp, Inc operates as a bank holding company for BCB Community Bank that engages in the provision of banking products and services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company offers insured deposit products, including savings and club accounts, interest and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.